The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/The Serpent Horde

Back to the list

The Serpent Horde

Why Play The Serpent Horde?

Because giant elephants... That and a very good selection of units to choose from that give you plenty of options on what kind of army you can to field. Not to mention you have some good choices for allies that can fill in the gaps where the serpent horde is weaker.

Pros

• Mumaks
• Poisoned arrows
• Cheap infantry
• Strong historical allies

Cons

• Low defence all round
• Expensive and situational heroes
• Very few shields

Army Bonus

All Haradrim warriors and Raiders may apply the poisoned weapons special rule to their weapons. The fun doesnt stop there, your armies bow limit is now increased to 50% which makes sense since most of your men will be ontop of a Mumak.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• The Betrayer: Harad’s Ringwraith comes with the same stats as a fully upgraded ‘vanilla’ wraith, can re-roll wounds in close combat and can spend a will point to allow friendly models with the ‘poisoned’ special rule to re-roll all failed to-wound rolls if they are within 6 inches of him. Good support choice and 120 points means that he is ahead of the vanilla wraiths simply because of his special abilities. Natuarally compliments other Harad models.

• Suladan the Serpent lord: Harad’s supreme leader clocks in at a most reasonable 100 points and could very well benefit from being mounted in order to maximise his combat prowess. A bow will allow him to take advantage of his poisoned arrows but will restrict his movement on the battlefield. Suladan also benefits from an extended stand fast range and counts as holding a 6 inch range Banner that doesn't give him negatives to his Duel roll, which will allow him to keep an army together quite well. Beware of his low fate points, but otherwise a quite reasonably priced leader.

• Hasharin: clocking in at a substantial 80 points for a two wound model, the Hasharin is a serious character killer with three fight 5 attacks. Low might will work against him, but could eliminate anyone up to the level of Aragorn with some fancy rolling and his 3 Fate points will keep him going longer than you expect

• The Golden King of Abrakhan A durable and deadly character that has a plethora of special rules that allow him to both kill and hinder enemy models simultaneously whilst also acting as a banner for his own side. Extremely pricey at 130 points though, so be careful you're getting what you need out of it.

• Raza, Fang of the Serpent: Clocking in at 75 points, halfway between a Hasharin and a Chieftain, he doesn't do the job of either very well. He's got 3 attacks, 3 points of Might, Bane of Kings (plus Sworn Protector for Suladan) but only Fight Value 4 base, and only 1 point of Fate. He does have a neat ability where he can secretly choose 1 enemy hero and boost his Fight by 2 when he's fighting them. This could be pretty okay for eliminating a specific hero, but a Hasharin will generally do a better job of it and also fight normal dudes better with his Fight 5. Skip him.

• Haradrim King: Average ‘Captain of men’ stats with higher fight and will. Passable, but offers no real advantages over the haradrim chieftain and costs at least 15 points more.

• Haradrim Chieftain: Lower fight, courage and will than the King, but otherwise identical. Always go for this guy over the king, hes far more cost effective.

• Haradrim Taskmaster: One less might an ordinary captain, but comes equipped with a 4cm range throwing weapon, his strength comes with his ability to grant free heroic move, march or shoot to allied heroes within 14cm on a 4+. 50pts is the same as a standard captain, so it will come down to whether or not you believe his ability will save you more than 1 might.

• War Mumak of Harad: Everyone’s favourite semi-feral herbivore, the Mumak will kill literally everything that it comes across, but at 275 points before upgrades, it really is something to be saved for larger games. A canny opponent will also use magic and wounds to force a stampede so be wary of keeping it too close to your own troops. That being said, it will kill everything, anywhere and at any time, and also can transport 12 Haradrim (available separately)

Troops

• Haradrim Warrior – Low defence, but cheap troops and poisoned arrows make these guys viable choices for an evil army. Their primary advantage is that they're cheap and easy to fill out hordes with, and their poisoned arrows can shred enemies given enough volume.

• Serpent Guard – 1 point more than a Haradrim Warrior with Spear for a...Haradrim Warrior with Poisoned Spear and +1 Fight value. Worth considering over Haradrim Warriors if that +1 Fight is worth it to you.

• Watcher of Karna – 9 points for a Haradrim Warrior with 1 less Defense, but 1 higher fight, 1 higher shooting Fight and the option for either 2 blades (giving them +1 Attack) or a poisoned bow. They also get Resistant to Magic, Hatred for Spirits and a weird rule where they have higher courage against terror and Blades of the Dead. A very odd model without a lot of use. Their +1 to hit in shooting might be worth it, but at Defense 3 they will get annihilated by any competent shooting, and the same applies to their melee ability. Useful only in very specific instances.

• Abrakhan Merchant guard – 9 points for the only S4 you get in your army. They also have fight 4 and don't suffer penalties for using their two hand weapons. Powerful linebreakers, best used sparingly with support from spear armed Haradrim Warriors.

Cavalry

• Haradrim Raiders – A sort of ‘rider of rohan’ for the bad guys. Very cheap for cavalry and with a fair amount of tricks up their sleeve. At first, it's fair to skip past them because, for just a point more, you can get serpent riders with that tasty Fight 4, but also consider that these guys can take bows. It might not seem like much at first, but with 50% bows being available across the army, you can get a fair few of these guys loaded up and loosing volleys far more mobile than you'd normally be able to. If you're building an all or mostly mounted force, it's at least worth considering getting some of these guys to pick threats off from a distance.

• Serpent Rider – Like Serpent Guard, they're one point more than Raiders with War Spears for +1 Fight Value.

Allies

Historical Allies

Mordor

Far Harad

Corsairs of Umbar

Convenient Allies

Isengard

Moria

Impossible Allies

Angmar

Sharkey's Rogues

Variags of Khand

The Eastern Kingdoms

The Nazgul of Dol Guldur

Azog's Hunters

Azog's Legion

Goblin Town

The Trolls

Smaug